Google's first April Fools' joke lets you capture Pokémon on its Maps app

Google's first April Fools' joke lets you capture Pokémon on its Maps app

Never one to take April Fools' Day lightly, Google is already rolling in its bag of tricks and surprises for the internet. The search giant's Japan office — where it's already April 1— just revealed a Pokémon Challenge for Google Maps that's sure to appease any millennial who's missing the video game.

To reclaim your title of Pokémon Master, open up your Google Maps smartphone app and press the "Search" option. That's where you'll see a blue Pokéball icon that allows you to start playing the game.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More

Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.